Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Oct 9, 2023
Date Accepted: Dec 21, 2023
Associations between stress, health behaviors, and quality of life in young couples during the transition to survivorship: Protocol for a measurement burst study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer is a life-threatening stressful event particularly to young adults due to delays and disruptions in their developmental transitions. Cancer treatment can also cause adverse long-term effects, chronic conditions, psychological issues, and decreased quality of life among young adults. Despite numerous health benefits of health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, healthy eating, no smoking, no alcohol use, quality sleep), young adult cancer survivors report poor health behavior profiles. Determining the associations of stress (either cancer-specific or day-to-day stress), health behaviors and quality of life, as they transition to survivorship, is key to understanding and enhancing young adult survivors’ health. Given that stress spills over into romantic relationships, it is also important to identify the role of spouses/partners (hereafter partners) on young adult cancer survivors’ health behaviors and quality of life.
Objective:
The overall purpose of this study is to identify the short- and long-term associations between stress, health behaviors, and quality of life in young couples as they transition to survivorship. We will examine the extent to which the survivor and partner facilitate or hinder each other’s health behaviors in response to stress in the transition.
Methods:
We aim to enroll 150 young adults (25-39 years at time of cancer diagnosis) who have recently completed treatment and their partners. We will conduct a measurement burst design, in which the survivor-partner dyads will be asked to complete a daily diary survey for seven consecutive days (‘a burst’) nine times over two years, with the bursts spaced three months apart.
Results:
Participant enrollment began in January 2022 and recruitment is ongoing.
Conclusions:
Results of this study will inform the development of an effective dyadic psychosocial/behavioral intervention that improves both young adult survivors’ and their partners’ health behaviors and quality of life and potentially their physical health.
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Copyright
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